Slightly more job vacancies in the Netherlands

At the end of September 2013, there were 94 thousand unfilled job vacancies in the Netherlands. 3 thousand more than at the end of June according to Statistics Netherlands. This is the first increase in job vacancies in two years. The increase is mostly due to the private sector. The demand for personnel increased most notably in commercial services. At the end of September, there were 86 thousand unfilled job vacancies in the private sector and 8 thousand in the public sector. Vacancy figures are adjusted for seasonal variation.

The number of vacancies per one thousand jobs, the vacancy rate, is an indicator for the tension on the labour market. The vacancy rate stood at 12 at the end of September, the same as at the end of June.

In the third quarter of 2013, the labour market was less dynamic than one year previously; 159 thousand new vacancies were created, i.e. 5 thousand fewer than one year previously. There were also 162 thousand filled vacancies in the third quarter, a reduction by 13 thousand relative to the third quarter of 2012.